Code: Eternity
by werepyre Zeke
Summary: What if Xana wasn't the only enemy of earth that lived on lyoko? What if a new threat arose? And most importantly... what if Yumi and Ulrich shut up and just got together! read to find out, rated because i don't know what my twisted mind will add later. Currently being RE WRITEN .
1. Chapter 1

Code: Eternity

Disclaimer: I do not own Code lyoko. If I did, Ulrich and Yumi would shut up and get together already, and Jeremy would be with Aelita and jealousy would die, and... Just read.

Odd was sitting alone again. Jeremy was off with Aelita at the factory, and Ulrich was in his room rehearsing something that was apparently of vital importance. Yumi was headed over to talk to him, so Odd was all alone…. The only one in the cafeteria… except for that strange new girl over in the corner, with silver hair…..

_Why not? _thought Odd as he approached her table. _She looks cute, and I'm bored. I already ate five helpings of both breakfast and lunch, so I shouldn't be hungry for another hour or so. _"Hey there, I'm Odd. What brings you around these parts?" He smiled brightly, and the girl grinned. "You seem pretty am the normal to me." Odd was confused until he saw her smirk and realized she was making his name into a joke. "Not bad. You could work a little on the delivery, though. Anyways, the name's Odd Della Robia. I am the resident lady's man, so I figured I should greet the newest and most beautiful student." "If you talk like that all the time, I can see why you're the resident lady's man. I'm Anna. Anna Mira Orai, to be specific." Odd couldn't help grinning. "You're a rarity around here: You seem to have great looks AND a quick mind. Not many folks around here have either." Odd's flirtatious comment had the desired effect: Anna blushed. "Hey, Odd, would you mind taking the newest and most beautiful student out for some coffee?" "An assertive girl, huh? Well, that's new! There's only two other girls like that in this school. Anyways, I like it. Sure, why not." With that, Odd and Anna walked off together to get some coffee, chat… and flirt. Oh man, did they FLIRT.

Meanwhile, Yumi was waiting outside Ulrich's room with her pressed against the door, listening to Ulrich rehearse what seemed to be a speech… intended for HER. "So, err… Yumi, I think I should just tell you that- no…. Aha! I think maybe I should _ADMIT that_ yeah that works… that I have… that ever since I met you I… err… GAAAHHH! Why is it so hard to just tell her I love her…?" Yumi's heart skipped a beat. She knew what she had heard, but didn't know what to do. She decided to take a chance for once, since it was clear that the 'we're just friends' line wouldn't protect them anymore. She opened his door and said loudly "You just did, Ulrich." Ulrich stood very still for a long moment, then, for the first and probably last time in his life, he fainted.

Jeremy was nervous. He loved Aelita- he had since he first met her, before she was even HUMAN (rather, before they KNEW she was human) and yet despite everything they had been through, he always felt like this around her. Not as badly when the others were around, true, but they WEREN'T here now, leaving him alone with the young woman he loved. Though that wasn't the only problem. The biggest problem was that the supercomputer had turned back on… without outside assistance. Lyoko was back online, and though XANA was gone, something malevolent still seemed to be there. It was a new threat, same motives, but one difference. This new threat communicated with him. He had awoken that morning to the sound of his phone going off. When he answered, a strange and emotionless voice said "Check your email, Mr. Belpois." He did so, confused, and found a strange email from someone calling themselves 'Zerin.' The email read as follows.

"Jeremy, so nice of you to help me out. I am, of course, referring to you destroying XANA, my competitor. However, I'm afraid I'll need to insist that you and the Lyoko Warriors retire. I have reactivated my home, and it WILL stay that way. Thanks ever so much, Mr. Belpois. I hope you understand that I wouldn't be sending you this message if I didn't respect your abilities. If you and your friends stay out of this, you and all your families will not be harmed. Do not neglect this generous offer, Belpois, because I don't offer second chances often. Think about it.

Sincerely, Zerin

The new ruler of Lyoko."

Sure enough, Lyoko was back online, and things seemed… different. The old sector five was gone. A new one, completely redesigned, stood in its place. A title on the mainframe's screen called this new sector Yang. Jeremy knew one thing for certain. If this wasn't the work of some new version of XANA, it was a damn good imitator.

"I hope you aren't really considering taking this deal." Said Aelita after he had explained what had happened. "I think we need to talk to the others. If all of them want to, then we'll stay out of this. Otherwise… no deal. I won't endanger them if they really just have had enough of lyoko… but I cannot stay out of this to save my own neck." He looked at Aelita and added "Or yours, unfortunately. Though I hate the thought of you in danger." Aelita looked surprised at that. "Me? What does my safety have to do with your decision?" Suddenly feeling bold, Jeremy took a chance. "Everything. Your life is more important to me than mine." She looked uncomfortable about that. "Look, just because only I can deactivate towers doesn't make me more important than-" "That isn't why, Aelita. I just… I can't bear the idea of anything happening to you. If you haven't figured this out yet... I'm kinda in love with you." Aelita knew Jeremy cared about her- after all, they were a couple now- but he had never said love before. "I 've been waiting to here yAs soon as Jeremy had processed everything Aelita said, he agreed. "Let's find the others, quickly. We shouldn't put off our talk for too long." Though Jeremy would normally leap into the air at the recent turn of events (aka, he finally saying outoud how he felt)the email weighed down upon his mind, stifling his joy. "Let's go."


	2. Chapter 2 the talk

Code 2; Decision

They started to gather the group, starting with Odd and (oddly) a new addition. And I do mean ODD-ly enough, since the new addition was practically glued to Odd at the waist. "Hi guys, this is my new girlfriend, Anna. She's got a great sense of humor, and she LOVES the Sub-digitals… especially that new song they remixed that was by Noam Kaniel. You know, 'World Without Danger?'" "Odd, that's great, but… I don't think this is a good time for introductions. There's a new problem with the, uh, computer. The really powerful computer we FIXED a few days ago." Jeremy tried to be subtle, but it wasn't easy to get his point across through Odd's thick skull without using small words. "If you mean the supercomputer, I'd be glad to help." Aelita and Jeremy Glared angrily at Odd, who said, "Don't look at me, I didn't tell her." They stared at Anna in confusion, and she smiled and held out her hands palm up. A small flame appeared, hovering over her palms in midair. "I have unique abilities. Mainly, I can read minds and make fire." She smiled. "I can only pick up sound bytes of thought unless I REALLY focus though, and fire isn't exactly easily controlled. I actually got expelled from my last school for arson when I lost my temper and burned the most popular girl in school. She's now bald and angry… and much less popular." They all looked at her stunned. Jeremy finally spoke up. "You might be helpful, after all. If you came to Lyoko, who knows what you could do?" "Lyoko is shut down, Einstein! Did you forget that already?" Odd's smart-ass remark was wasted, of course. "Actually, there's a new threat. It turned on the supercomputer and claims to be a rival of XANA. I don't know if it's being honest, but if so, the Lyoko Warriors are back in action. At least, we might be. And… I don't think that it's a good idea to hold any more grudges. If we go back, William could be a huge help." "Who, me?" Said a voice from behind them. "William!" Shouted Aelita happily. "Good to see you. I thought you had detention today." "I do. I don't like Jim's attitude much, though, so I skipped it." Jeremy smiled as Odd gave William a high five. "Not bad work there, but how did you find us?" "I followed the trail of empty lunch trays to Odd." Came the response. Odd, who would normally have had a witty response, simply blushed guiltily and glanced at Anna. She smiled and laid one of her hands fondly over his. Jeremy was surprised: normally Odd acted even stranger around his girlfriends; bragging and cracking jokes at every opportunity. Now, however, Jeremy thought Odd was acting… shy. As if he was love-struck… which Jeremy definitely understood, considering his own behavior around Aelita. Still, could this be an actual RELATIONSHIP for Odd? Jeremy was happy for his old friend, but worried that if too many more surprises came his way today, he might end up passing out.

SPEAKING OF WHICH….

Ulrich looked up at Yumi. "Please tell me I just woke up from a strange dream," Ulrich pleaded. Yumi seemed uncomfortable as she shook her head. "If you mean you screaming out that you love me a split second before I walked through the door, no, you didn't dream that." "Oh, can we pretend that I did?" "Nope." "I didn't think so… you gonna insist we talk about it?" Yumi thought for a few seconds. "Yeah, I think so." Ulrich slowly sat up, and finally realized that he was about to have the conversation he'd obsessed over for more than two years. "So… Ulrich… Did you mean what you said? I mean… love is a pretty strong word… and, uh… I don't know what to think." Yumi stared expectantly at Ulrich, not really knowing what sort of answer she was hoping for. "Yumi… It would be so easy to pretend it was just a crush, or that I meant I loved you like a sister, but that's not the case. I won't hide it anymore." Forcing himself to stare directly into her eyes, he said "I love you, Yumi." The worst thing she could do, he thought, would be to laugh- and she didn't look like she felt comical at the moment, so… why not just fess up? She thought for a few more moments and said, "I don't know what to say, or what to do. I never really thought the 'just good friends' thing would work, but I hoped it would. Not because I didn't like you, just because, well…" She looked away, her eyes sad and worried. "Before I met you, Ulrich, I had no friends. You were the first friend I'd had in years, and the best friend I've ever had in my life. I was terrified that if we became a couple, and then things went wrong, I'd lose that friendship, and loose the one person who I could count on more than any other. But now… it hurts to see you with other girls. I admit that. I can't hide it, Ulrich… I think I'm falling for you, too. I don't know if I'd use such strong words quite yet… but I might. I just don't know." Ulrich thought to himself _This is my chance_ and said "Yumi, you're wrong. Nothing that could happen could keep me from being there for you… even if you dated me then dumped me. I just want one chance, Yumi. I won't hurt you, I swear… I don't want us to waste our lives wondering what might have been. Please, Yumi, just… think about it?" She didn't answer for a few minutes. Ulrich didn't know if he held his breath the ENITRE time, but he DID see spots once or twice. "Please, Ulrich… don't let me down on this. We can… try to make this work. But I don't want to do this, take this risk, just to end up getting hurt, so if you're serious about this, you need to give it your all." She looked at him, her eyes filled with fear… fear of rejection, of the future, and of (secretly) the fact that Hiroshi would NEVER let her live this down. Ulrich just smiled and said "I WONT fail you Yumi. I promise." She smiled and tentatively held out her hand. As he took it in his own, Yumi felt relief and joy radiate throughout her body. Then her phone rang.

"Jeremy, hi… wait, what? The factory… the computer did WHAT? That's not possible… ok, we're on our way." She looked at Ulrich. "Can't we EVER have a touching moment without needing to save the world? Jeremy said the supercomputer turned itself back on. We need to get there NOW."


	3. Insert Witty Title HERE

Code 3

Disclaimer: I don't own code lyoko or World Without Danger, its theme song. I wish I did, though. I would make another 200 episodes! Also don't own tron, just love making references.

Yumi and Ulrich were running along the bridge to the factory within a minute. It never took long to get there, Ulrich realized, unless they were under attack. Three minutes after the phone call, all seven of the heroes were in the supercomputer room. "Glad you could make it, guys." Jeremy said as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Here's what's happening." They all waited patiently as Jeremy explained the phone call, the email, Anna's powers, and the new sector. "Basically," Jeremy concluded, "It's time for us to choose; Fight, or give up. I won't give up, though, and I didn't think any of you would. Still…"Everyone shook their heads at his invitation. "We'll fight, Einstein. I could use an excuse to miss out on Gym Class." As everyone nodded in agreement with Odd, Jeremy smiled. "Alright, then, a few new things. First off, Anna will be joining us. She could be useful on Lyoko, especially considering how powerful she is on Earth. Secondly, I'll be going in too. I've got a new program that should let me access the supercomputer's mainframe from within Lyoko. And besides, I don't think that it would be too smart to just wait around here since this new enemy obviously knows how to find me." "Are you sure about this Jeremy? After all, you don't fight all that well…" Aelita's concerns were met with a gentle smile from Jeremy. "I can handle this, Aelita. I want William, Anna, Odd, and myself to go in first thing tomorrow. Aelita, you can come along if you'd like, but I think you, Ulrich and Yumi should stay behind, in case anyone wonders where we all went. After all, Yumi and Aelita are the best liars, and odd can help teach us to fight on lyoko." "What about me?" Ulrich objected. "You can stay here and flirt with Yumi!" Odd said with a smirk. "Actually, he might do just that. We're together now," Yumi shot back, eager to take the wind out of Odd's sails. "That's GREAT! Took you two long enough, didn't it!" Odd, as usual, switched tactics (and targets, aka annoy William time) in the blink of an eye. "Tough break, William, but I'm sure you'll find a girl someday." William scowled at Odd when nobody was looking, and looked away before anyone could notice. "Jeremy, are you sure YOU want to fight on Lyoko? I mean, it isn't exactly your area of expertise." Jeremy sighed at Odd's comment and took a deep breath. "I don't think you guys realize how much stronger Lyoko made you. Whenever any of us is attacked in THIS world, they outsmart or trick the enemy and escape. But I never once managed to fight off a XANA attack. My intuition is telling me I need to be ready for any eventuality this time." With those words, Jeremy began typing instructions into the mainframe. "I managed to redesign my own appearance on Lyoko. I now look more like … this." He drew up the image. He was equipped with a spear and in a blue outfit that looked like a fusion of medieval armor and a track suit. "Nice one, Einstein! Now we can pretend we're in TRON or something!" "Shut up, Odd."

Jeremy stepped into the scanner, wondering why exactly he had decided to actually listen to his instincts. They got him into trouble all the time, after all, and his instincts couldn't possibly be trusted with determining whether or not to re-enter Lyoko. Still, perhaps he had spent too much time around Odd, because here he was, and he was about to enter the world he feared more than any nightmare. In a nightmare you could wake up. In here… you always have that chance of falling into the virtual sea or the computer malfunctioning or-"Scanner, Jeremy. Transfer, Jeremy." He heard Aelita's voice over the speaker systems. "Virtualization!" Jeremy landed in the forest sector, spear in hand.

As Jeremy looked around at the forest sector, he realized that he was NOT alone. "Oh great… time to learn how to fight, I guess..." He counted five-no, six- hornets. "Let's try this… Vortex Strike!" Jeremy felt a wave of power pass through him as he spun his spear over his head. A whirlwind of electricity surrounded him, and three of the hornets were quickly destroyed. Jeremy felt exhausted, and knew he couldn't rely on the technique he had programed alone… he needed to try the vehicle. The others hadn't notice THAT part of his outfit, he was sure. He closed his eyes and focused briefly. Moments later, large glowing blue wings, similar to Aelita's pink wings, erupted from his back. He jumped at the nearest remaining hornet and struck, piercing the eye on its forehead. Before it exploded, he noticed something; the eye wasn't black anymore. It was red, and had only two lashes rather than four. He grimaced in pain as the other two hornets attacked, both hitting him in the back. He realized that he was lucky he didn't de-virtualize from that, and decided that running was probably his best bet. The Vortex move he used only took out three of them because he'd caught them off guard. He hoped he'd gain more control over it soon; the exhaustion was not exactly helping him out. He decided to try one other technique. "Specter Stride!" He shouted as he faded from view. He was glad the invisibility power was working; he was low on options. "Run program; Mainframe." As he whispered into his wrist piece, a blue screen appeared in front of him. Smiling, he quickly modified the Vortex program, glad that at least ONE of his inventions was working today. Before the new, single target Vortex could be tested, Jeremy felt himself emerge from his invisibility. "Jeremy, I've sent Odd and William in! They'll be there soon," Aelita's voice assured him. Just as the hornets were about to strike, Jeremy heard "Need some help, Jeremy?" from behind him. William sent a disk of energy flying from his sword, destroying one hornet. The other was destroyed by a burst of flame that came from beneath it. Looking down, Jeremy saw Anna, dressed in a long, white, ornamental robe, and carrying a blue staff. 

"No fair, sweetheart!" Called Odd. "That was MY hornet." "You can have the next one, love." Odd smirked at Jeremy. "You can see why I fell for her, right?" "Of course I can, Odd, she has a sense of humor nearly as bad as yours."

They were materialized quickly enough, and as Jeremy stepped out of his scanner, he smiled. Maybe he wouldn't be so useless after all.

**Attention fans: I am sorry for the lack of Fluff, don't worry. I have many more fluffy (and a couple of rather… uhhh, let's say 'private' chapters coming up. I assure you: I am NOT a lemon writer… but I IMPLY all sorts of things… Anyway, this story WILL be rather long, Romantic, and action-filled. I needed to progress the plot. If anyone has ideas for 1) powers for Jeremy or Anna, 2)New monsters 3) good punchlines or 4) suggestions for anything fluff, touching, funny, or involving explosions on Lyoko, please email me at werepyre2327hotmail .com or simply review. Thank you, much more to come. Within a week or so, I will also release an AVATAR Last AIRBENDER fic called Avatar Aftermath. Check it out if you want to. ****Updating SOON I swear. Send those suggestions, if you want ill gladly give credit where due.**


	4. first date

As Yumi, Jeremy, Aelita, and Ulrich left the factory (Odd and Anna, accompanied by William, had left earlier) Yumi realized something. "Jeremy, isn't it likely that a new code is needed to access this new sector 5?" "I'm glad you brought that up, Yumi. Actually, it's impossible to enter the new sector 5 at the moment. We need to figure out how my programs are being blocked and fix the issue. If we can find the source of Zerin's firewalls, we're sure to find the information needed to enter his world." "YOU do that Einstein. I'LL keep Yumi company, order a pizza, and wish you luck. Bye!" With that, Ulrich grabbed Yumi's hand and ran off.

"Are you going to tell me WHERE we're going?" Yumi asked as Ulrich led her into town. "The movie theater. I figured tonight would be as good a night as any for our first date." Yumi was surprised, not at Ulrich's idea, but at the fact that she hadn't thought of it first. "My parents are out of town, and they took Hiroshi with them. Why don't we just go to my house? I've got plenty of movies, and my parents left me money for food. You could even stay over if you want to." Now Ulrich was the surprised one, mostly by the nonchalant way Yumi had suggested his staying over. "Uhhh… sure. It's too late for me to try and get back to the dorms without getting caught, anyway. But are you sure it's okay? I mean-" "Look, its fine for you to stay over so long as you don't try anything. If you do, of course, I'd be required to kill you." Ulrich grinned. "No problem."

Yumi's house was indeed well supplied with movies. Ulrich supposed that nearly every movie ever filmed was somewhere in their basement, and Yumi agreed. "My dad is obsessed with every type of movie- except musicals." Ulrich laughed, picked out one of his favorite movies, (Underworld) and ordered a pizza to be delivered. It was so nice to be doing something normal for once. He looked over at Yumi, who was on her way to the kitchen to grab a soda. He smiled, thinking _does life get an_y _better than this?_ Unfortunately, the pizza would take a half hour to be delivered, so they would have to start the movie on empty stomachs. About ten minutes in, during a shooting scene, Yumi gently turned Ulrich towards her, leaning in close. Slowly, shyly, they moved closer together until, at long last, their lips met. All of Ulrich's senses were suddenly hyper-sensitive. The air felt warmer, Yumi's skin softer, her lips tasting faintly like peaches. He gently but firmly held her close to him when they finally broke apart. While they DID watch the movie, they did NOT bother watching any of the other combat scenes (except the end scene). After all, that time could be put to much better use. Their hands slowly began to roam, stroking shoulders, necks, and thighs. Ulrich and Yumi definitely had a good first date.

When Ulrich woke up the next morning, three thoughts occurred to him one after another: _last night was amazing, though we ARE moving kinda fast,_ then _oh my god I'm in Yumi's bed, next to her, and barely clothed! What happened that I forgot? _And finally _oh… yeah… we stopped short of anything risky… we actually SLEPT… thank god. _Yumi woke up while he was still remembering what had happened. She smirked, saying "You still trying to remember why we're in the same bed?" "Yeah, I was. I remember now… hehe, I freaked out at first. I thought I… never mind." Yumi laughed. "You and I had a great time last night, and you didn't even go back on your word. I don't have to kill you." Ulrich smiled at Yumi's words. As he sat, remembering the feel of her skin, the taste of it… he almost hypnotized himself. "You realize I'm not exactly the 'fast moving relationship' type of girl, right Ulrich? I mean I made that 'if you try anything your dead' speech for a reason and-" "It's okay. I'm not in a rush… I just want to be with you." Yumi blushed even more at hearing that, and kissed Ulrich on the cheek. "Thanks Ulrich. I'm sorry I got so carried away last night. Still… it was fun." Just then, the phone rang. "NOT AGAIN!" they exclaimed in unison.

**I just write what my heart and my knowledge of the characters tell me to. All fans, please send in more ideas for powers for Anna and Jeremy, date ideas, and opinions of who gets the next fluff: Ae&J, An&Odd, or U&Y. Be as unbiased as possible. (Like that'll happen.) sorry this chapter was short. I'm working my way up at the moment, chapters 5, 6, and 7 will be rather long I hope. Till next time, hopefully soon, I wish you all the best. Oh, and to my biggest fan and first reviewer, tifaravenmaka, ii will be using your idea in chapter 5 or 6. Thank you, and I hope you like this chapter. It was made with your request in mind. They will get closer (cough, second base, cough) as the story progresses… but it will take time. Yumi has a shy side, and Ulrich is a bit nervous. Anyway… review again, please. I look forward to the input.**


	5. Must keep writinguhhh

Jeremy woke up the next morning in a good mood. That mood lasted about ten minutes. As he returned from the bathrooms, he noticed something missing from his desk. "Damn it, where's my laptop?" He spent the next half of an hour searching for it. When Aelita showed up to walk with him to class, He still hadn't found it. "Aelita! Please, you gotta help me! My laptop is missing and class starts in 10 minutes!" "WHAT? Without that laptop, how can we know if Zerin launches an attack?" Odd, who was walking by with Anna, said "Did you say laptop? I thought I saw YOU going to the factory with it not five minutes ago." Jeremy, Aelita, and Anna shared a look of horror, soon accompanied by Odd once he figured out what had happened. "Quick, call Yumi, and tell her to bring Ulrich. We need to get there NOW! If Zerin wants my laptop, he must be planning to do something big. Something he can't afford to have us interfering with."

Zerin smiled as he stepped into the scanner with Belpois' laptop. This was far too easy. He left a note outside the scanner and pressed a key on the laptop. "I prefer portable computers, personally," he said to himself as the scanner recognized his command. "See you soon," he murmured.

"What's this?" asked Jeremy as they entered the scanner room. Picking up the sheet of paper, he began to read aloud.

" 'Dear Mr. Belpois.,

I am sorry to know that you have declined my offer. I think I should even the playing field a bit. I need my OWN computer, so you keep your supercomputer and I'll borrow THIS one. Take care, Belpois. I wouldn't want you dying by anyone else's hand while I work on my little project.

Sincerely,

Zerin, the Shadowlord.'"

"Looks like Zerin renamed himself, huh?" Odd's clever remark only angered Jeremy further. "Without my laptop, we need to either stake out the factory or stay in my room ALL THE TIME! But he couldn't be TOO far… if we can find him on Lyoko, we can figure out how to get to his home, Yang." "Jeremy!" Called Aelita over the intercom. "He didn't touch the supercomputer at all. He's never even entered the lab!" "Then he must've used my laptop somehow…" As Jeremy thought about it, Aelita virtualized Odd, Anna, and William, whom they'd picked up en route to the factory. "I've sent them to the forest sector. I've detected some foreign data pattern there… with any luck, it'll turn out to be a trail Zerin left." "You call following a trail left by our enemy that probably leads into some sort of trap LCUK?" Jeremy asked as he entered the scanner room. "I didn't say it was GOOD luck." Aelita set up a delayed virtualization into the forest sector and ran down to join Jeremy. As she did, Ulrich and Yumi arrived. "I think one of us should stay here, Yumi. We can't leave the supercomputer unprotected… it's too risky." "I think we should both stay. That way, if one of us is attacked, the other one can help our team on Lyoko."

She very deliberately avoided voicing her unwillingness to let Ulrich out of her sight, given the team's previous experiences with sudden 'good' fortune. Aelita's out of lyoko… XANA steals her memories and stops them from shutting down the supercomputer. Aelita gets her memories back… XANA escapes from Lyoko. Lyoko is shut down… Zerin appears. Things always go wrong after a stroke of good fortune for the Lyoko Warriors. She wasn't going to risk losing Ulrich if she could help it. However, she couldn't. He scowled at her suggestion, saying "We're needed more there. Just go with me, Yumi. The factory will do just fine without us." She sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to stay behind if he had a chance to fight again, to be a hero again. "Fine I'll go with you." She set up the virtualization program, and followed him into the scanner room. They met up with the others within seconds of their arrival on Lyoko. Just as they approached the trail left by Zerin, however, a black-robed man appeared behind Yumi. Before Ulrich could even scream her name, she'd been stabbed by a strange glowing dagger the man had kept within his robe. As suddenly as he appeared, he vanished. Yumi wasn't devirtualized, though. She groaned and held her head as the air around her turned crimson. "Yumi!" Ulrich yelled as Jeremy checked the computer stats on his wrist-com. "OH NO! He's stolen part of her materialization code!" Jeremy's words turned Ulrich's blood to ice. "What does that mean?" He asked weakly. "It means that unless I can recreate the codes before she's devirtualized, she'll die!" Ulrich couldn't even breathe. He couldn't understand Yumi's sudden fear of lyoko before, but now it made sense. She somehow KNEW something would go wrong. "Can you reuse someone else's codes, Jeremy?" Aelita asked. Before he could respond, Yumi threw her fans at Odd, devirtualizing him instantly. She had Zerin's symbol, the red eye, where her pupils should have been. "If I do that, Aelita, the person whose codes I use could end up permanently affected, as could Yumi." "Use MY codes, Jeremy," Ulrich shouted as he blocked Yumi's fans on their trip back towards her. "Don't argue, just do it." As Jeremy sighed and typed on the wrist-com, Ulrich and Yumi began to glow. "I hope I don't regret this," said Jeremy.

As they came out of the scanners, Ulrich caught Yumi's arm, sensing that she was off-balance. She smiled at him, thinking _how sweet._ Ulrich shook his head saying "It's not that sweet. I'm just trying to be a good boyfriend is all." Yumi froze. "Ulrich, what are you talking about?" "You said 'how sweet.' I think it's just common courtesy." Yumi's eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. "Ulrich… I didn't say that." "Yes you did, I just heard-" "I THOUGHT that Ulrich. You just read my mind."

**OMG! How's that for a permanent side effect of the code transfer, hmmm? I thought 'why not make a weird bond between Yumi and Ulrich, one even stranger than their relationship. I couldn't think of anything that weird, though, and I doubt it even exists, so I Read and review, more reviews (from more people, so don't try to scam me by reviewing five times…. Unless you really want to**** ) means faster updates. I want to please my fans, but second semester started, I dont have good study habits, and I'm taking 14 credits. So more fans= more pressure= fast update. DO THE MATH… preferably my algebra homework. Lol. Till next time, veiwers! Err I mean readers! Also, here's a sneak peak of Chapter six's new monster, courtesy of tifaravenmaka (hope I spelled that right.)**

**Saberclaw:**

**Tiger-like mechanical creature with sharp fangs and sword-like claws. **

**No lasers. HP140 Damage per hit 30 hp on the lyoko warriors. I love stats, don't you? NO! YOURE NUTS, GO AWAY! AND I BET YOUR JEALOUS CUZ THE VOICES ONLY TALK TO ME!**


	6. Chapter 6 the next is longer i swear

Sissy was distressed. She was finally accepted as a friend by Ulrich and his gang, but… still, she knew they were hiding something. And worse, Ulrich and Yumi were together! She couldn't help but feel left out and betrayed. For a week or two, it seemed as if the secrets they were hiding had simply vanished. But when that new girl Anna showed up and joined them, it all started back up. Still, none of that mattered to her as much as Yumi being with Ulrich. She decided it was time to pay Yumi a visit. Before she could take two steps out of her room, though, She walked right into William.

"Hey, Sissy. If you're looking for Ulrich, tough luck; he and Yumi haven't been apart from each other in three days. I swear, it's ridiculous. I don't know what she sees in him." William fell silent, his face taking on a definitively morose cast. "I don't know that I stand a chance anymore. Before they were together, I had a shot. Now…" He looked on the verge of tears. His voice sounding strained, he said, "Could you excuse me? I've got to go… somewhere. Anywhere but here." Sissy scowled and returned to her room. Though she didn't know him as well as Yumi or Ulrich did, she did know enough about William to know what caused the strain in his voice; pain. Lots of pain, probably over Yumi. She suddenly felt angry at Yumi, but not for taking Ulrich from her. She was surprised to find that William's pain had upset her. Normally, she didn't show any form of compassion for anyone but herself. Now, however, she felt something unusual; concern for William's wellbeing. Her mind slowly formed an idea; a thought that, though it had never occurred to her before, now seemed to be near-genius.

William turned around when he heard Sissy call his name. "William, wait up!" As he waited for her to catch her breath from running after him, he found himself noticing things about her that surprised him. He had been so obsessed with Yumi, he never even glanced at other girls before. Now, though, he noticed that Sissy was, in fact, quite beautiful. He thought to himself, _Why not. I've got nothing left to loose. _"Hey, Sissy, this might sound strange, but-" Sissy cut him of by blurting out "Do you want to catch a movie this Friday?" William smiled. "I'd love to."

While a new romance sprung up between the scorned lovers, Yumi was waiting for Ulrich at the movie theater. She checked her watch; he was running fifteen minutes late. That wasn't like him. She was starting to worry when he strolled casually around the corner, grinning broadly. "Hey Yumi. Sorry I was late, I had to pick up something important. I'll explain later, let's go. If we don't hurry, we'll miss the movie." Normally, Yumi would be angry at Ulrich's overly blasé explanation, but something in his smile told her that he had a good reason, though what it could be, she had no idea. She shrugged it off, figuring he'd tell her soon enough. She just followed him into the theater, thinking how different things between them were now… how they could trust each other at last. If this had happened a month ago, she'd have killed him. Now, she was just happy to see him, and know that he belonged to her, and only her .

The scan picked up an activated tower in Yang at about 5:30 am, two weeks later. Ulrich was making out with Yumi (they woke up early) and jeremy was working on a new technique: the stormbolt. It would allow him to shoot lightning, while his vortex slash simply used blue energy. He groaned when he heared the tower alert. Jeremy realized that, with Yumi still at home and William… well, who KNOWS where he was, Odd and Anna weren't going to have much backup for protecting Aelita. However, thanks to the link between his old laptop and the supercomputer, he'd managed to find a way around the firewalls surrounding Yang. Therefore, the only real problem remaining was manpower. He decided he would go with them. It was time to REALLY fight Zerin. He phoned Odd. "Listen, Odd. I need you to get Anna and Aelita and anyone else you can find from our group and meet up at the factory. Zerin activated a tower."

As Odd ran to Anna's room, he heard a noise that sounded suspiciously like a giggle. He stopped for a moment to hear Sissy's voice coming from a nearby room. She seemed to be talking on the phone. "Listen, I know that you need to hang out with your friends, but at least tell me what you're doing! Please, William, I don't think that any true friends would exile you for telling me that you were skipping class as a group, especially when it's already obvious… No? Fine." She paused as if listening, and Odd tried to put the pieces of the conversation he'd just heard together. "No way… Sissy and **William**?" he muttered incredulously to himself. Then again, it made sense. They both lost the object of their desires simultaneously (note: I am aware that Odd doesn't think in words as large and complicated as SIMULTANESOUSLY but it works for the explaination so shut up) and probably tried to comfort each other. There were stranger ways to fall in love, Odd realized, and (as usual) made a snap (and stupid) decision. He knocked on Sissy's door. When she answered, he grabbed her phone, said "Zerin alert, Romeo" into the phone, and shut it. Then he grabbed Sissy's arm and said "Come on, Sissy. I'll take you to with me to the factory. Worse comes to worse, Jeremy will just use Return to the Past." Sissy, confused and irritated, was not so easy to persuade as he'd hoped. "WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!" He shushed her and knocked on Anna's door. "Anna, come on darling. Wake up." She answered the door fully clothed and with her shoes on. At his questioning glance, she explained. "I'm an insomniac. I get dressed for the day at 3:00 am, when I wake up. Why is Sissy going with us?" Her eyes glazed over momentarily as she read Odd's mind (if you can call it a mind. He's funny and a good strategist, but not very bright sometimes.). "Ahh, she's with William. He'll kick your ass for bringing her into something this dangerous, you know." "He might, but if he thinks it through he'll thank me. Their relationship is doomed if he starts disappearing every time a tower activates and she doesn't know why." Sissy, though tired, was clever enough to realize that William would probably be where they were going, which was good enough for her.

As Sissy stepped into the computer lab section of the factory, she was greeted with cold stares from Yumi and Ulrich. Though neither would admit it, things between them were rather… shall we say 'heated' when the call from Odd announced Sissy's arrival and the tower activation. Jeremy was already programing the delayed virtualization that would allow them to go to lyoko together. "Ulrich and Yumi, sit this one out. You'll try to kill us if we keep you two off of each other much longer anyway. Odd, Anna, and Sissy, go to the Scanner Room." Odd was surprised that nobody objected to the addition of Sissy to the group, then realized that William must already be on Lyoko and probably settled the argument before they arrived. Odd sighed, hurt at the thought of missing out on a good argument between Einstein and… anyone, but still hit the elevator button as requested.

**HEY! Sorry, this is the last 'short' chapter for a while. Next one is up by the 30****th****, I swear. And the next one includes Zerin's project, Sissy on Lyoko, and the hottest combination of Fluff and … whatever that not-quite lemon stuff iwrite is called that you've ever seen (between Yumi and Ulrich, of course.) Send me reviews and ideas, as usual. If anyone has ideas for Sissy's weapons, powers, or outfit, please send them. I only have an idea for weapon that's incomplete, and my ideas for her costume are not character-apropriate. Too dark. Please send ideas.**


	7. Reveiw now, pls Big chap

The Virtualization process was not exactly comfortable the first time through, seeing as you almost invariably fell on your ass. Sissy was not an exception. Like William's ORIGINAL outfit, hers was white and skin-tight. Unlike his, though, the lining throughout the outfit was pink. She stood up slowly, getting used to the feel of Lyoko. William held out his hand to help her up, which she gratefully accepted. "So this is where you've been going all this time? No wonder you never told me. I wouldn't want to tell anyone either; it sounded too weird to be true till I saw it for myself." "Guys," Jeremy's voice said from behind them, "I'm detecting three incoming enemies on my wrist-com. And they are BIG." Almost as soon as Jeremy finished speaking, three huge and unusual creatures appeared. They looked like some sort of centaur, with a four legged body supporting a human-like torso. They had clawed feet, and blades for arms. The strangest thing was their heads; they looked like saber-tooth tigers. "Great, our first trip to Yang and these Saberclaws have to wreck it," said Odd as he leapt to a nearby tree. Yang seemed to be similar to the forest sector, only a bit more… overgrown. And there were no ledges anywhere; no chance of falling into the digital sea. That comforted William, worried for Sissy's safety as he was, but the others were a bit more preoccupied with their new oversized friends, each of which was the size of Krab. The Saberclaws attacked, swinging their bladed arms back and forth, dividing the warriors.

Sissy was terrified. She didn't know what to do. William and the others were fighting the mutant tiger-things with an assortment of weapons, but she didn't have one. Or did she? She checked herself and was surprised to find a whip with a bladed edge. She shrugged; better than nothing. She lashed at the nearest Saberclaw, nearly decapitating Odd in the process. "Watch it, Sissy! Now is not the time to play Indiana Jones!" Sissy scowled and tried again, this time aiming a foot or so above the crimson eye emblazoned on the tiger-thing's chest. This time, her aim was true; the bladed end of her whip cut a deep gash in the Saberclaw's chest. Then something strange happened. They'd all already noticed that the new monsters looked less mechanical, but they weren't expecting the torrent of blood that gushed from the wound. "What the HELL!" Jeremy shouted, backing up. Just then, one of the Saberclaws leapt between him and Aelita, its arms raised to strike. Jeremy acted quickly, shouting "Stormbolt!" and raising his hand, which was pointed palm outward at the beast. Blue lightning struck the thing, causing it to yowl in pain. He spun around 360 degrees, twirling his spear, and shouted "Vortex Slash!" This time, a blue light infused the air around him. That aura struck with his spear, shooting an energy blade at his victim. The Saberclaw was knocked backwards and suffered a nasty gash across its back, but managed to survive. They seemed to be outmatched, but Odd was not about to give up. "Try to aim for their eyes! If they can't see, they can't fight!" His words gave Anna an idea. "Everyone, get down," she shouted as she swung her staff over her head. "Phoenix Wall!" They were suddenly surrounded by arcing walls of flame, which soon intertwined over their heads to form a dome of fire. The smoke from her flames spread only on the OUTSIDE of the dome, so the two Saberclaws outside were soon choking and blinded, but the one inside was far worse off. It didn't heed Anna's warning, and it was a great deal taller than the Lyoko Warriors, so it was swiftly incinerated. Sissy gasped in horror as the dome began to shake and shimmer, because she alone saw what caused it. A man dressed all in black, wielding a scythe, was striking at the dome protecting her friends. She, being the farthest from the group, was stuck outside the shield, as was William. They looked at each other, and Sissy came to a swift decision. They had accepted her into their group. She was really a friend to them. She would NOT let them down. She screamed "LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" as loud as she could. She didn't expect the result to so… explosive. Her scream was somehow amplified by her Lyoko abilities, and formed a wave of sonic energy that threw both Saberclaws and the Dark Scythe into a large tree, some fifty feet away. Sissy swayed, smiled, and collapsed. The last thing she heard before darkness took her senses was William shouting "SISSY! NOOOOO!" Then all was darkness.

**IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY THE CONCEPT OF TWO TEENS IN LOVE GOING TO SECOND BASE, SHUT UP AND SKIP THIS PART. IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF MY FAMILY, FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS EVEN IF YOU ARENT OFFENDED.**

Meanwhile, Ulrich and Yumi were back at Yumi's house, where they were blissfully ALONE. The peril of their friends unknown, they were lying on Yumi's bed, kissing gently. That didn't last long. The kisses they exchanged became more passionate and frantic as their hands slid over their partner's body. Ulrich kissed Yumi's neck, and then gently began to massage her breasts. The bold move surprised Yumi, but she didn't object. Rather, she decided to play the 'bold move' game too. She gently rubbed one hand below his navel, and slide her hands down his pants as he slid HIS hands up her shirt. They lay there, gently rubbing together and both blushing furiously. After a few minutes of this, Yumi felt Ulrich quiver, and felt something warm run over her hands. She stood up and walked to the bathroom to wash her hands, while Ulrich cursed himself for being so hypersensitive. Yumi returned with a bold look in her eye, and said "You owe me, you know." Ulrich smiled as she removed her shirt and bra. He gently began to massage her breasts again, eliciting small moans of pleasure. He leaned in and gently sucked her nipples, licking and nibbling occasionally. This caused her to moan louder, a sound Ulrich decided he REALLY enjoyed. He continued to brush his tongue over her nipples and started gently flicking them. As his tongue flickered all over her c-cups, she gasped and tensed up, clutching Ulrich tight to her chest. She looked at him, blushing furiously. He realized he too was blushing like a mad man, and rolled away from her. She put her shirt back on and kissed him gently, whispering "I love you" as she got up. Ulrich decided that this day was definitely one of his top ten, probably even top five. He got up to walk with her to the living room when he heard her voice inside his head. _That was fun, wasn't it? _She said. The message had an exhilarated tone to it, and was overlaid with feelings of love and warmth. He smiled, glad that they had such a unique form of communication. _I wonder what would happen if, next time, we talk to each other THIS way during it. That would be very interesting, don't you think? _Ulrich's return message made Yumi blush as she sat on the couch to wait for him.

**THE BAD PART IS OVER PRUDES**

**CONTINUE READING HERE.**

While Yumi and Ulrich began to watch Underworld: Evolution, the other Lyoko Warriors were defending Sissy's motionless body. Jeremy didn't understand what had happened. The Saberclaws had returned with reinforcements, and now the fight was five on five. But where were the injured ones? Could Sissy have killed BOTH of them with one attack? It would explain her exhaustion, to be sure, but seemed strange. Then he noticed that as the battle progressed, some of the wounds they inflicted on the beasts healed themselves. Jeremy swore, striking at the Eye on the nearest one with Vortex Slash. Luckily, his aim was true. The creature was sliced cleanly in two, falling into a pool of its own blood. The one next nearest one struck at Jeremy, who barely realized he was in danger until William blocked the bladed arm with his broadsword. "Look out, Jeremy. I can't save you every time." Jeremy nodded and threw his spear into the eye of the Saberclaw that had locked blades with William. It struck its mark, causing the thing to stumble and fall. As Jeremy tried to pull his spear out of the beast's heart, he saw two more spring towards him. He leapt into the air, shouting "specter stride" and vanished. The blue wings that emerged from his back were seen only by him, and the sound they made as they carried him behind the beasts was too soft for anyone to hear. He couldn't hit the Eye from behind them, and Stormbolt only stunned them a bit when it hit them anywhere else- a problem that Aelita was having with her energy fields as well. The biological aspect of their new foes seemed to reduce the usefulness of electricity-based attacks, which were instantly fatal to the mechanical creatures they normally fought. It was frustrating to say the least. Jeremy carefully observed his surroundings as Anna ignited another Saberclaw, which was quickly finished off by Odd's arrows. Aelita was fighting alongside William against another, while the last one advanced on Sissy's body menacingly. Jeremy had no choice. "Stormbolt!" The thing staggered, and then turned to face its attacker. It growled at Jeremy, and was about to charge when a five-foot sword plunged through its heart. Odd and Anna had taken William's place helping Aelita, freeing him up to take on the monster threatening the genius. The Saberclaw gurgled out one last growl as it fell, and William smiled. "Don't mess with a guy who carries a sword almost as tall as he is. It's just not a good idea." "William, snappy death threats are MY job," complained Odd. "Deal with it," shot back William. The final Saberclaw, outnumbered and surrounded, fell in mere seconds. Aelita found the tower with little difficulty, and shut it down. "I wonder what the tower was supposed to do," said Odd. "Hopefully, we'll never need to know," responded Jeremy. The gang was soon materialized, and Sissy woke up. "Wha… What happened?" "You blew away a few enemies by screaming at them and collapsed. Try to control your temper next time." Odd's response made Sissy scowl. "Sure, next time I'll just scream at YOU!" "Calm down, babe," said William soothingly. She smiled at him and blushed. "Well… this is awkward. Ok everyone, let's get back to the dorms and catch a few z's. We need to be well rested in case something ELSE happens. Zerin doesn't strike me as the 'take a break and relax' type of guy." Jeremy's words were greeted with general agreement, and everyone began the relatively short trek back to their rooms.

The next few days were rather boring. The summer break continued, the Lyoko Warriors trained their new recruit, and Jeremy practiced not needing to have someone else save his ass every three seconds.

Then on Friday, Jeremy had had enough of the routine boredom that seemed to be all that was left of their lives. He decided to take Aelita out on a date- their first date. He decided to go and see the latest romantic movie with her, knowing that she enjoyed cheesy romances almost as much as Odd enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs. They settled in for a nice, long romantic movie, but Jeremy didn't look at the screen even once. He just stared at the girl next to him, wondering how on earth he ever lived without her. He certainly couldn't survive without her now… not anymore, not ever again. He went through too much to get to the point where he and Aelita could be together to ever let her slip away from him. Taking her hand gently in his, he whispered in her ear. "I love you, Aelita." She blushed and smiled at him. "I love you too Jeremy. Ever since you found me on Lyoko." "I want to ask you something," said Jeremy. He realized that he hadn't thought things through, but he didn't care. "I wanted to ask you," he said, putting a small box in her hand, "to marry me." Aelita was stunned. Though she was far from immature, she knew that they were both far too young to get married. She looked at him, confused, as she opened the box. Inside was a beautiful pink-diamond ring, with each diamond engraved with another letter. The letters spelled out 'Lyoko.' Jeremy explained. "I don't expect to get married until after college, but I wanted you to know that I truly love you, and want to spend my life with you." She smiled, her eyes filling with tears as she considered how hard it must have been for him to work up the courage to ask her this. "Yes, Jeremy. I will."

At that same time, Ulrich and Yumi were watching Rise of the Lycans, the Underworld prequel, and kissing gently. Ulrich wondered what series they'd watch next, then decided he didn't care. As long as he was with Yumi, he was happy. Then Yumi stopped kissing him, her hand having brushed against something in his jacket pocket. Pulling out a small black jewelers box, she asked "What's this?"

**Cliffhanger! I need your input now, folks. I am willing to write a lemon chapter, IF the fans demand it. Tori, I need more than just you demanding it for me to post a lemon fic. Sorry. I'll write you one some other time if the vote goes against you. I also need ideas for how long you folks would like this story to be, aka 20chap, 25chap, etc. I won't write less than 15chap or more than 50chap, but I need input. After about 30 chap I consider a fic LOOOOOOOONG. So input or the fanfic may be cut a bit shorter than you'd like. I AM writing this for YOUR benefit, folks. Please Offer input and review.**


	8. lemony goodness

**This is my best attempt at a fan-demanded chapter. I am not a lemon writer… I AM, however, a lemon THINKER and a complete _itch (ill in the blanks, folks.) to my fans. The slave kind, not the angry high school kind. Like being someone's _itch. Yes, I really do self-censor my author notes. Sue me, mother _ckers. Anyway, I do like appeasing people… know I blush furiously as I write this, despite the fact that I've read dozens. I am a shy guy who is in control of his hormones. We're a dying breed. Enjoy. And if you're a member of my family and read this, I WILL kill you- nothing personal, you understand. Jk. Or am i? DUN-DUN-DUN!**

**Lemon time!**

The box she had found had a small ring inside. The diamond resting in the center of it was beautiful, and the silver of the ring was engraved in black onyx '_love knows no boundaries, and ours shall know no end.' _She looked at the ring, stunned. "Is this an engagement ring, Ulrich?" They'd only been together about three weeks, but Ulrich had gotten THIS? He smiled and nodded. "That day I was late showing up to the movies… I was getting that. The inscription sums everything up, Yumi. I want to be with you forever… I know we're young, I didn't propose yet because of that, and I wasn't expecting to actually get married until after college, but… I love you more than anything." Through their mental and emotional bond, she felt the sincerity of his words, and the overwhelming love he had for her. There was something else there as well… a strange urge that seemed almost primal. She slipped the ring on her finger, saying "Consider yourself engaged, my love." She leaned in, kissing him gently but passionately.

As they deepened the kiss, they left the couch. Neither of them ever figured out why, who's idea it was, or even how they got to Yumi's bed. They kissed deeply, Yumi rolling on top of boyfriend to prevent his escape- and unnecessary precaution probably, but she wasn't taking chances. She removed his jacket, and they removed each other's shirts. Their clothes were, within moments, lying on the ground discarded. Ulrich gently massaged her breasts, and soon fell to suckling gently. This had the desired effect; she began to moan, first softly then louder. The sound aroused him, and she could feel his member growing hard under her hand as she reached out towards it. They began kissing fervently when Ulrich realized that things might be going too far. "Yumi I don't have any-" "I'm on birth control. Don't worry, my period was five days ago. You missed it. I'll be fine." He smiled and kissed her again, this time rubbing his hand gently at her entrance. She gasped as waves of pleasure shot through her like volts of electricity. They soon lost themselves to passion, and he positioned himself. He looked at her when he encountered a barrier, but she nodded at him. Still concerned, he thrust and broke through her hymen with little difficulty. However, he barely had time to register the amazing feeling of her warmth wrapped tightly around him when he heard her cry out in pain. "Yumi, are you all right? Should I stop?" Those words seem to spring to the lips of every man when he hears that gasp. The pain they felt was shared through his bond with her, making him more aware then he might have been otherwise, so she knew she couldn't lie to him about it. "Hold on a minute, then move." After a moment, she felt the pain go away to be replaced by a wonderful, exhilarating sensation. She nodded at Ulrich, who slowly rocked his hips back and forth, and she began to mirror his movements. She, still being on top, was in control, which normally would have slowed the pace down a bit, but not this time. They felt pleasure together, sharing it through the bond, and soon they began to approach climax. "Ulrich… I'm getting… really, uh…" "I know, me too. Yumi… I love you." As they climaxed as one, they were not only joined in body, but in spirit. There was raw emotion all around them, fusing them together for one glorious moment, and then they fell on each other exhausted. Five minutes later, they were at it again. This time, Yumi was on the bottom. They showed no hesitation this time. As Ulrich thrust wildly away at his fiancé, the beautiful Japanese woman wrapped her legs around him, urging him to go faster still. As they slowly built up to the moment of climax, he began to knead her breasts softly and nibble and lick her neck at the collarbone. This drew yet louder moans from the already thoroughly noisy girl, and soon they both screamed in ecstasy. AS he released into her yet again, they were unified in spirit and body once more. They only withdrew from each other due to severe exhaustion and fear of Yumi's father showing up. They dressed and went down to finish the movie, 300. They both rested peacefully through the gory movie, finding complete comfort and safety in each other's arms.

**Short chapter, yes. But I publish quickly. Also, this is an experiment to see how good I am with lemons. I am writing a book, and might add a sex scene if it turns out I'm any good. Jk, lol. I probably wont… unless I'm bored or feel like it or think its necessary or… whatev. Reveiew. Note; I didn't blush once. I'm shocked. I didn't feel a trace of human emotion at all. I went numb. Ill probably blush for days later though. Bye**

**Sincerely werepyre Zeke**


	9. What the?

The tower that activated the next morning was widely ignored. After all, he could activate towers, but so far Zerin hadn't done anything. So, why bother? "We aren't going to risk our lives de-activating a tower that doesn't do anything." Jeremy was tired of all these 'attacks' that did nothing. If something actually happened, then he'd be more than happy to go fight Zerin. But nothing, nothing at all, ever happened when he activated a tower. So why bother? They could use a break for once.

"But Jeremy… what if something happens this time? We can't do nothing just because we don't KNOW what happens when he activates a tower." Aelita, as usual, was worried. She was worried all the time these days. And, though he didn't want to admit it, Jeremy was too. He couldn't understand why Zerin would activate a tower just to draw them into Yang, but since nothing ever happened when he activated a tower, that seemed to be the most likely motive.

Smiling at his fiancé, Jeremy said "Don't worry. He doesn't seem capable of doing much outside of Yang. The towers are probably just bait or some sort of distraction, to keep us too busy to figure out what he's really up to. I'm going to go over all the logs of activity in Yang during the previous tower attacks, and that should tell us what he's really up to."

On Yang, Zerin was relieved. They had finally stopped shutting down his towers. Finally, he could work in peace. Finally, he could begin his project. Taking out Jeremy's laptop, he began to type furiously, almost as if possessed. He smirked. They would never know what he'd done until it was too late.

Meanwhile…

The scan Jeremy was running seemed to have found something; a small burst of energy from the activated tower was detected heading into the Network every time that Zerin 'attacked.' Jeremy was concerned; this made no sense. Why attack the Network? Unless…

No! His heart sank as he contemplated the only reason for Zerin to use the Network; he was looking to expand his power. He wanted to make Replikas the same way Xana had done, and to do that, he needed supercomputers. He was plotting to use Jeremy's laptop to hack computers, most likely. But why?

The only explanation Jeremy could think of was that Zerin wanted power, dominion, and other stereotypical bad-guy motives. This didn't seem to fit in with Zerin's normal behavior, though. There MUST be something else… what was he missing? Why would Zerin need more power? He claimed to be stronger than Xana… Yet he was stuck on Lyoko, at least partialy, and the virus that preceeded him had held him prisoner. What was his plan? Jeremy swore in frustration. "What the fuck are you doing? And why?"

Jeremy was surprised when Aelita spoke up from behind him. "What are you talking about?"

Jeremy scowled at the supercomputer. "Zerin is trying to hack supercomputers, the same way Xana did after he escaped Lyoko. But why does he need to use TOWERS? He said he's stronger than Xana, so why doesn't he just escape?"

"I don't know, but maybe he would rather stay in the Yang sector. It IS his home, after all, and his creatures are getting stronger and stronger by the day. Maybe he wants to make sure he's strong enough to stop us BEFORE he leaves his home territory. Right now, he has 'home field advantage', right?" Aelita's words were like a slap to the face for Jeremy.

"Of course! He wants to gather as much power as possible before he makes his move! And since we can't shut him down by turning off the Supercomputer, we can't stop him from doing just that!"

Just then, Odd and Anna awoke. They had been napping in Odd's room (one of their favorite passtimes) when Anna had suddenly and violently jerked awake. "Odd… something's outside."

"What? Who is it? Can you get a read on them?" Odd asked sleepily.

"Not some**one**, some**thing.**"

"What do you mean?"

"It isn't human… and it's big. I can't get a clear read on it, though. It's almost as if it's not alive…"

Jeremy's cell phone rang, and he answered angrily. "Yeah, what is it Odd? A tower? Yeah but how did you… WHAT? HOW? I know that, but he did something new apparently. Okay, I'll get Yumi and Ulrich. William and Sissy will have to go to Yang with Aelita and myself. I'm on it." He turned to Aelita. "Zerin materialized those Reapers of his in the school dorms. I'm getting Yumi and Ulrich to help. You get William and Sissy. Go quickly, they should be in the park." With that, Jeremy turned to the computer terminal and brought up Yumi's number.

As Aelita ran, she looked all around her, both for her friends and for signs of trouble. She found both. Ahead of her, under a tree, William and Sissy were standing in a fighting stance. Unfortunately… so was a Tarantula.

"Sissy! William! We need to get to the factory NOW! Run! They turned at the sound of Aelita's voice, giving the mechanical beast the chance to strike. It wasn't expecting a sword to suddenly end up embedded in its back. It quivered, then exploded. The sword was caught by…

"Ulrich! You got a sword?"

"You don't expect me to go toe-to-toe with Reapers unarmed, do you?" Ulrich smirked. "The sword was a gift from Yumi's father. An early wedding gift." Yumi came up behind him.

"We can share the good news later, Ulrich. Right now, we need to help Odd." Ulrich nodded at his fiancé's words. "Right. Let's go." They turned and ran off without another word.

"Hurry, the factory!" shouted Aelita. As they ran, Sissy and William said together "Did they say WEDDING PRESENT?"

The Reaper swung its scythe towards Odd, who barely avoided being cut in half. "Good thing you're scrawny," came a voice from behind the reaper. The Reaper spun around to face Ulrich, its scythe at the ready. Ulrich ducked and chopped at the Reaper's legs- only to find it HAD no legs.

"I'm not scrawny, I'M SVELTE!" Shouted Odd.

"Not the time, dear," replied Anna as she gathered up as much fire as she could. She threw it at the Reaper, scorching its cloak and setting it on fire, but it took no notice. Ulrich blocked and parried every swing of the scythe, but he couldn't hold out forever.

"Hey Shadow boy," shouted Odd. "Try this on for size." He wrapped the Reaper in of the old bed sheets Kiwi had torn up. "Fits you pretty well huh?" As Odd smirked, the Reaper turned, as impassive as ever, to swing its scythe once more. But Ulrich was ready, and he plunged his Katana through the thing's chest. It froze, shimmered, and dissolved into shadows.

"Too close," sighed Odd. "What took you so long?"

Ulrich glared at Odd. " I still have the sword, Odd."

"Point taken. Get it? POINT?"

"…. Shut up."

On Yang, Zerin smirked. The Reaper had distracted them long enough. The first Supercomputer was his.


	10. What doesn't kill you

**This is a DOING chapter. Next one will EXPLAIN a lot of what happens here. Sorry to leave my Loyal Fans waiting so long. Next few chapters of Code Sanguine as well as at least one more chapter of this fic will be up by May 1****st****.\ enjoy**

It had begun with a single Reaper, but Jeremy knew that it wouldn't end that way. He was right.

As Ulrich lead his group of Lyoko warriors towards the factory, he began to get a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, like something was watching him.

That something turned out to be half a dozen Saberclaws. The immense creatures roared their challenge as they saw the newcomers, and they sprang towards their prey with bared fangs and outstretched claws. Ulrich was fast enough to avoid them, but just barely. Anna was less fortunate. Just as Ulrich dodged one creature and Odd distracted another (his aim with stones was as good as his aim with laser arrows) three of them attacked Anna. The white haired teen dodged the first two, but the third one did something… unexpected. It shot one of its claws like a missile.

Years later, Odd would remember the sound the claw made as it pierced her lung. It would give him nightmares. As he ran to her, he could tell it was too late, even as he heard her final thoughts:

_I'm glad I met you, Odd Della Robia. Goodbye, my love… Don't give up, and don't back down. You'll find love again, when you least expect it. _With that final prediction, Anna died.

Odd saw red through his tears. He stopped dodging and stood still as a Saberclaw prepared to shoot another claw-missile at him. As it shot, he ran forward, hands outstretched, and grabbed the projectile. He then charged in, swinging his new weapon as his girlfriend's murderer leapt towards him.

He screamed in pain and rage as he stabbed it through the heart.

While Anna was dying in the forest, Aelita and Jeremy were waiting for Sissi and William on Lyoko. William showed up alone, and looking upset.

"What's wrong, William?" asked Aelita. Over the Headset, They heard Sissi sobbing and angrily shouting, "Maybe he feels guilty for dumping me!"

"Not the time for this to be happening, Sissi. Aelita and I will gladly comfort you later, but right now we need your help HERE." Jeremy's words were met with more sobs. Then they heard Odd's voice. "Send me in! I have a few things to discuss with Zerin. It should be a VERY long, very UNPLEASANT conversation. For him."

Jeremy had never heard Odd so serious, so hurt… it was strange, to say the least. But Jeremy rough up his in-world screen and set up Odd's transfer. As Odd landed on Lyoko, he screamed "GET OUT HERE ZERIN, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" They tried to calm him down, but he pushed them away. "I'm gonna find him, rip his heart out and show it to him!" Just then, they saw another person fall into the forest clearing. It was Sissi.

"I'm not gonna let all my friends suffer just because William is a moron. Which way's the tower?" William deliberately refused to meet her gaze as they headed south. They heard a familiar buzzing sound as three hornets approached, followed by a Reaper. "Damn, a Reaper. This isn't good. I upgraded my weapon, guys, so let me take this one." With that, Jeremy drew his new weapon, a glowing blue staff, and leapt into battle.

"Lightning Blast!" Jeremy shouted, blowing one hornet out of the sky. The remaining hornets aimed for Aelita as she spread her wings and flew towards the barely visible tower, but Sissi's whiplash attack slammed both of them into a tree, causing them to explode. The Reaper, on the other hand, started by rushing towards William, its scythe in hand. William couldn't react in time to block the attack, and was instantly devirtualized. "Damn! That thing hurts!" shouted Odd as William's grid-form faded. He sounded tense and flat, as if the humor was forced and his spirit was dead. Still, his skills were unaffected; he hit the Reaper with twenty Laser arrows before it cut him down. Sissi's scream bought them the time they needed as Aelita approached the tower.

"Tower: Deactivated," Aelita declared as the Return to the Past was Launched.

It had been almost a month since Zerin's last attack, and Odd was noticing that the world, which seemed to have lost its color when Anna died, was finally beginning to return to normal. With one small exception.

"Hey Odd," Sissy said softly as she sat next to him at lunch. William had still not spoken to Sissi since dumping her, claiming it was because "She's too dramatic and clingy. It's why I dumped her in the first place." In response, Sissi, Odd, Aelita and Yumi were refusing to speak to him either- Ulrich simply stuck to saying 'hi' and 'bye' to William, being only slightly less friendly to the boy than he normally was. Odd had become Sissi's favorite shoulder to cry on, and in return she listened to him when he talked about his nightmares, all of which included Anna's death. The others tried to help both of them as well as they could (Anna having been closer to Sissi than any other girl at school, her death hurt the former diva almost as badly as it hurt Odd) but the only solace they seemed to find was in each other's company. The police were still trying to find out how the young woman nobody ever saw leave the grounds ended up murdered in the woods, looking like she'd been gored by an elephant. The Lyoko Warriors were shattered by Anna's death and William's shallow abandonment of Sissi, and as the weeks went by, Jeremy concluded that was the main focus of Zerin's attack. He didn't want to merely HURT them… he wanted to destroy their spirits. As one of the newest members of the group, Anna was vulnerable, and Zerin used that to hurt them all… their foe was a mad genius indeed.

Odd was snapped out of his reverie by Sissi's voice, which sounded nervous. For some reason, that set him on edge, and he leaned forward as she stuttered. "I, uh, w-was wondering if, well, if you weren't busy this weekend, Odd, we could, I don't know, grab a pizza together or something…?"

Odd tried to stay calm as he processed Sissi's words. The girl he'd been enemies with for years had just asked him out, and they'd been practically best friends for almost a month now. If two months ago, someone had described this scenario to Odd, he would've called them insane and twisted. Now, to his own surprise, he found he LIKED Sissi. A lot.

It was frightening, he decided, watching as Sissi refused to meet his gaze. Still, Anna had told him not to give up or back down… and the LAST place he'd of thought to look for love was with SISSI. If that wasn't 'when he least expected it,' what was. Besides… Sissi had been there for him ever since Anna died. He owed it to her to give her a chance.

Odd nodded and smiled at her. Sissi blushed and smiled back at him. "Good. How about Saturday at one? We can go for lunch."

"It's a date," Odd said cheerfully, his long-absent smirk returning. Sissi's smile widened as she saw Odd smirk, and wondered if he was just saying yes so he wouldn't be alone, or if he really liked her.

Either way, this would be interesting, she thought as Odd scanned the crowd, eager to make up for lost time with his taunts and pranks.


	11. Jeremy's Ingenius Invention

Sissi was panicking. Her date with Odd was in an hour, and for once she actually cared about what OTHER people thought of her appearance. The clothes she normally wore seemed… inadequate, somehow. Yet she couldn't figure out what to do, with so little time to prepare. She eventually decided to try something… different. Grabbing a plain white t-shirt and skin-tight blue jeans, she threw her 'standard' outfit into a corner. As she finished dressing, she looked in the mirror. Apart from the stressed look on her face and the panicky way her eyes kept moving, she looked downright beautiful. She hoped Odd would like her new look too.

Odd was concerned as Ulrich pulled him aside and hour before his date with Sissi. "What's up, buddy?"

"Let's talk, Odd. Why are you going out with Sissi?"

Odd looked at Ulrich in surprise. "Because I like her. Why else would I go?"

"Odd, you've hated the girl for almost three years."

"That was then, this is now. Stop living in the past, Ulrich. She's a lot nicer than I thought she was back then and a lot smarter too. She just acted like a ditz because she thought guys liked their girls brainless and beautiful. She helped me get through…. Well… you know…." Odd trailed off, staring at the ground, his eyes full of pain and longing. "If it weren't for Sissy, I wouldn't have outlived Anna by more than a day or two," Odd admitted sadly. "And to be honest, she and I actually seem to get along really well now. Maybe this date will be a disaster, but I think it'll be fun. I think she and I might really make a good couple. I'm gonna do what makes me happy, and, believe it or not, this makes me happy. SHE makes me happy." Ulrich sighed at Odd's somewhat dramatic explanation. "Fine. Just… be careful. We have enough trouble with William and Sissi having broken up. If things go wrong between the two of you, it's gonna tear us all apart… we can't afford to fight amongst ourselves now Odd. I really hope you know what you're doing." As he walked away, Ulrich heard Odd say "So do I."

When Sissi and Odd finally met that night, Odd was stunned by her appearance. Her somewhat overly flashy look had been replaced with a simple- but undeniably attractive- jeans and t-shirt combo. And to top it off…

The girl was wearing an Amethyst necklace.

"I thought you hatted purple..." was all Odd could say when he saw the necklace. "And white, too." Sissi smiled. "I don't like them as much as I like pink, but… purple's your favorite color. I wanted to make a good impression." Odd smiled. "Consider it made, Sissi. I'm DEFINEITELY impressed." And he was; she looked absolutely stunning… in a casual way. The casual appearance of the outfit only made it more impressive that she looked so absurdly beautiful in it. _Could I really be falling for Sissi? _ Odd wondered. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he smiled at his blushing date. "Come on… I know the best pizza place in town. And to top it off, it's right across from a movie theater."

While Odd was out with Sissi, Jeremy and Aelita were working on a new program while Yumi and Ulrich were testing their mental bond. By playing guessing games.

"Hmmmm….. 37?" asked Ulrich. "Right again," Yumi replied. "I wonder how useful this mind-link will be… outside of our relationship I mean." Ulrich looked puzzled. "What?"

Yumi grinned. Ulrich's eyes glazed over as he scanned her mind. Then he smiled back at her. "That would helpful, I gotta admit. We could kick Zerin's ass from here to china with those moves. We should practice… Hey Jer?" Jeremy looked up at Ulrich. "What is it?"

"Could you virtualize us? And maybe program a few monsters? We want to practice a few moves." Jeremy nodded. Without further ado, the two teen warriors ran to the scanners. After he'd programmed their opponents, Jeremy returned his attention to the program he'd been writing. "If this works, Aelita… we might be able to materialize our abilities into this world. We'd be able to fight the things Zerin sends after us on equal footing. But if it doesn't work right… it could get us killed. I really hope these numbers work as well in practice as they do in theory…" Aelita smiled at her fiancé. "Don't worry, Jeremy. You always get these programs fixed sooner or later."

"Yeah, but there may not be a second chance if I mess up. If the program fails, it will most likely get one of us killed." He sighed. "I should be able to finish a simulation program for it in time as long as Zerin doesn't-" the tower icon appeared on Jeremy's screen. "OH COME ON!"

"Sissi… this has been really fun. Thanks. For everything. If you aren't doing anything, say, next Saturday, maybe you'd like to catch a movie?" Odd had, unfortunately, run out of money after dinner, so they'd been unable to go to a movie this time… but Odd knew where Ulrich kept his wallet. He smiled at Sissi when she said "Of course. What time?"

"How about seven?"

"Sounds good," she replied. Before she could lose her nerve, Sissi leaned in and gave Odd a kiss. It was a short kiss, but undeniably sweet.

When they reluctantly parted, both of them blushing, Odd froze. There was a chill in the air he recognized… the same chill he'd had on the night Anna died. "Look out!" Odd shouted, leaping towards Sissi as a Reaper materialized behind her. He knocked her out of the way just in time to save her from the black scythe the Reaper carried, but took a the hit himself. He cried out in pain as the scythe left a deep gash in his left shoulder.

On Yang, Zerin was laughing. The smart-ass warrior irritated him to no end, and he had determined that, once his main target had been taken care of, Odd would die next. He despised the young man's happy-go-lucky attitude and stubborn refusal to show fear. If he wouldn't cower, he'd die. On Yang and Lyoko, Odd had a definite advantage over any of Zerin's creatures. That was why it was on EARTH that he'd decided to fight Odd Della Robia.

Now that Anna was out of the way, he'd be able to concentrate on his goal. He all he needed to do first was destroy the svelte hero once and for all. Then his computer began showing him dozens of error messages. Someone else was materializing something on Earth.

Odd looked down at his chest as a strange purple amulet appeared around his neck. Just then, he got a call from Jeremy. As he and Sissi ran from the rampaging Reaper, he answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Odd, it's me. Zerin is launching an attack again… and from the scanner's new location program and the position of your cell phone, I'd say it's nearby."

Odd laughed. "No kidding? I thought the Reaper that just tried take off one of my arms was a cosplayer."

"…. Not funny Odd."

"Well it seems funnier on THIS end of the call."

"I've sent you something through the scanners. A purple necklace."

"Yeah, I see it. Nice work, Einstein."

"If you think that's nice, see what happens when you turn it on. Press the gem and concentrate on Lyoko."

Odd did as he was told- for once without either complaint or witty remark. He suddenly felt a strange calm come over him, but only for a moment. After the calm a sudden flash of raw energy surged through his body and as it did, a blinding flash of light enveloped him. When the light faded, Lyoko Odd was standing on the sidewalk with his Overboard in hand.

"AWESOME! How did you-" "No time, Odd," Jeremy said through Odd's newly materialized headset. "Kill that Reaper ASAP."

"Roger that, Einstein," Odd said with a smirk. He jumped on his Overboard and started shooting laser arrows as quickly as possible. The Reaper started deflecting them with its scythe, sending a few of them back at Odd. Sissy was staring at Odd in horror as he tried to take the grim monstrosity down. She wanted to help, but she didn't know how. Then she remembered what the others had told her;

'_Our powers on Lyoko don't make us heroes, Sissi. Our determination to help and refusal to give up… that's what makes us Lyoko warriors.'_

She picked up a pipe on the ground and threw it at the back of the Reaper's head. It turned towards the new threat angrily; a fatal mistake.

Odd took advantage of its injury and vulnerability to shoot at its' head. The creature screamed as the laser arrows cut through the eye symbol it hid beneath the black hood concealing its' face and exploded into fragments of shadow. He struck the purple gem on his necklace again and returned to normal, feeling exhausted. Sissi ran to him and he chuckled.

"So… some date, huh?" He said as she threw her arms around him. "Actually, I thought it was great. How often does a girl get to watch her date kill a monster from a virtual world?" Sissi's response was met with a huge grin from Odd. "I guess you're right, Sissi. This was a pretty good date after all. I sure hope I can top it next week- without any Reaper interference." They smiled at each other, both thinking the same thing; _I think this will work out just fine._


	12. my note to you

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Code: Eternity and Code: Sanguine are both back on track. However, I am also working on and icarly fanfic and an Inuyasha fanfic- as well as a DNAngel fanfic and the two book series I'm writing. I will do my best to get more chapters out there for you guys, but I NEED REVIEWS! If you want more from me, I need more from you. If you don't start reviewing, I'll start updating less and less… okay that's bull. I'll still update whenever possible (truth is writing is my favorite thing to do) but if you guys would review, I'd have more passion, more inspiration, and that means more chapters in less time with a better outcome. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…. READ AND REVIEW! Or I will send the evil teddy bear from Yugioh Abriged to your house. LOL. And yes…. I am insane. But that's what makes me awesome

Werepyre Zeke Out


	13. Makes you Stronger

**A/N Hi guys! I realize I stopped doing introductions when I was reading my older chapters of my two code lyoko stories. GOD! I am SUCH a genius when it comes to writing bad jokes, eh! I mean, Odd himself would be proud of some of my material, I think. But anyway, though I haven't gotten many reviews, the ones I did get were supportive. So, with a special shout out to EmoBlackie (god I hope I spelled that right) for his encouraging words, I've decided to continue my writing, with extra UMPH! I love writing, and even if nobody else likes what I write, I KNOW it's great. I'm my own numba 1 fan, and I like it that way! So on with the awesome, right guys? REVIEW!**

**A/N2 I am NOT going to stop writing EVER! Buwahahahahahahahaha! I love evil laughter… anyways, moving right along, I'm putting more effort into stories and less into video games. The next few chapters for each story may seem a bit rushed and amateurish… I am currently looking for one of my friends to help me beta-read. I want to write BETTER instead of just MORE… though a combination of the two is, of course, the end goal. So the next few might be slightly rushed… SORRY to the hundredth power. Anyway, read and review, gomenosai. I hope I spelled that right.**

**Werepyre Zeke out!**

Chapter 12: Makes you stronger.

"Guys, we've got a big problem," Jeremy said the next morning at breakfast. It was unusual to see him at breakfast… or lunch…. Or gym…. Or dinner… or anywhere but the factory really. "What up, Jer?" Odd asked as Jeremy sat down. "Don't tell me there's ANOTHER activated tower?" Jeremy scowled at him. "No. It's a hell of a lot worse than that. Zerin found another supercomputer and took control of it. That was what happened the night Anna…" He trailed off, refusing to meet Odd's gaze. "Get to the point Einstein. What's he doing? Playing with Replikas like Xana did?" Jeremy shook his head. "No. He's not falling into a rut of constant attacks the way Xana was; he's planning something BIG. And quite frankly, I think it's one of the few things he and Xana had in common. World domination seems like a likely goal for Zerin, wouldn't you say?"

"But… isn't he stuck there? Like Xana was, I mean. Doesn't he need something to get out?" Odd asked in confusion. Jeremy sighed. "I'm afraid not. He's proved to us that he's already capable of materializing his creatures here, and last night he did it without activating the scanners! Besides that, he's come out of Yang before- to steal my laptop. If he has that, then he has Code Earth too… and all the information on Lyoko I've gathered over the past three years. Getting out isn't his goal… his goal is to get rid of us." They all looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Why? He can spawn more creatures than we can possibly fight. Why not just skip to the 'massive war' phase?" Ulrich asked. Jeremy smirked. "Because thanks to me, we can fight him HERE, with all our abilities, and still win. And also… I think it uses up a lot of his strength to build up an army. He needs us out of the way before he even tries. Otherwise, he knows we'll do to him what we did to Xana. We're the only ones that can stop him, so he needs us out of the way before he does anything else." Everyone thought about it, nodding to themselves slowly.

Sissi sighed, saying "Great. I finally feel like everything in my life is starting to go right for once, and then I find out a virtual overlord wants me and all my friends dead. Why does this crap keep happening? Don't you guys ever just get sick of it?" They all stared at her for a moment. Odd finally spoke up. "Of course we do, Sissi, but it comes with the job. Nobody else can do what we can- it's up to us. That means we can't afford to be selfish- even when we want to be. It's that simple." She smiled at him. "I know, but it's just not fair. You guys do so much, never get thanked for it, and almost die on a daily basis." "Well… now you do too! At least there's that!" Odd said cheerfully, causing Sissi to giggle.

Then Jeremy reached into his backpack, pulling out a handful of necklaces, which he passed out to each of them. "These are the keys to the program that allows you to use your Lyoko powers here. Press the center gem to activate them- they respond only to your touch. Got it?" he asked as they all put their new necklaces on. Yumi's was a black bird sitting on a blood red egg- a ruby. Ulrich's was two crossed golden swords with an emerald shield. Aelita's was an angel holding a harp made of pink diamond, and Sissi's was a white diamond, simple and beautiful, on a chain. She smiled as she looked at it, and then glanced at Odd. "I think I'm starting to like white a lot more now." Odd smirked, silently pleading that she wasn't going to expect him to buy her diamond jewelry. Surprisingly, he found himself thinking that he wouldn't mind buying her expensive gifts- if he had the money. He shook his head. _I must be losing it... or… no; I couldn't really be falling for already… could I?_

As Jeremy explained the limitations of the Lyoko Gems, Zerin was hard at work in his own supercomputer. He was generating a new type of monster… one designed specifically to deal with the all-too-clever techie, Jeremy. He may have failed to destroy Odd, but Jeremy wouldn't be so lucky. He'd studied Belpois for much longer than he'd studied any of the others; he knew his weaknesses. He knew his strategies, his programs, and his typical patterns. Oh, yes, Jeremy was indeed clever… but Zerin was a genius. He chuckled as he finished the creation of his new creature. "That foolish programmer won't know what hit him." The strange new being stood up in front of its master and spoke. "What do you wish, lord Zerin?" He smiled at the creature.

"Well, now, Hawkeye, I think your first task should be to destroy Belpois. All the data on him is found in this folder," he said, pointing to a file on the computer. "Study it well. He's our most dangerous foe. If he survives… we may be in great deal of trouble. His program is what destroyed Xana… he must be stopped before he can do the same to us. Understood?"

The thing called Hawkeye nodded. "Will I have reinforcements?"

"Yes, of course. I'll make a few more of you. None of them will be quite as intelligent, of course, but they're meant to be your subordinates, so that's to be expected." He smirked at Hawkeye and gestured towards the door of his lair. As Hawkeye

"I've made sleeping arrangements for you. Retire for the night, Hawkeye. In the morning, your work begins."

Jeremy yawned. It was almost 2:00 a.m. and the upgrades for the Lyoko Warriors' weapons were still incomplete. He'd been working on them for nearly a month now, and yet he was barely halfway done with it… except for Ulrich's weapons. The swords he wore were now equipped with a ranged attack technique: a smaller version of the energy slashes William used with his oversized blade. That, in truth, was why his upgrade was ready so soon; it was just a modification of a preexisting program, rather than the creation of a new one. Still, it would make Ulrich MUCH more capable against airborne opponents. As Jeremy ran Ulrich's upgrade program, Zerin activated a tower. "DAMN IT!"

Jeremy set foot on Yang with Aelita and Odd, with Sissi not far behind. They were in the forested section of Yang, called the 'Outer Rim,' and the tower was in the second layer, a group of canyons and tunnels called 'The Catacombs.' However, the second layer was one they'd all seen only once, and then at a distance. And with all the valleys and gulfs around there (according to the supercomputer) it was the perfect place for an ambush. They proceeded carefully, Odd on the Overboard, Jeremy and Aelita flying, and Sissi riding a new vehicle Jeremy had programed a week earlier; the Overblade. It was a small, one person jet with edged wings. It was a prototype, Jeremy said, because (other than the Skid) he'd never programed an armed vehicle. Apart from the wings, it had two laser cannons on either side of the strange jet's nose. The tube-shaped jet was working well so far; they'd cut through two Saberclaws on their way to the Catacombs with no damage to the Overblade. Jeremy was too giddy with his success to notice the shadowy figure that followed behind them as they left the Outer Rim.

Ulrich and Yumi, along with a grumpy William (who's Lyoko Gem looked like a white 'x') were searching for the five creatures materialized by Zerin's tower; two Reapers, one Saberclaw, and two Hornets. The villain had taken a liking to Hornets lately, and had outfitted them with special poisons; one caused total paralysis that lasted several hours, and the other caused instant devirtualization. When Jeremy told them about the new poisons, they'd initially been skeptical. However, since then they'd found Jim, Principal Delmas, and Nurse Yolanda paralyzed and unconscious. For some reason, though, out of the five creatures brought to Earth by Zerin, they'd only found the Saberclaw, which (using a new combined effort technique from Yumi and Ulrich) was easily destroyed.

_Normally, Ulrich, Zerin hunts us down. Why are his creatures hiding?_ Yumi asked silently.

_I don't know, Yumes. But we'd better figure it out quickly… I got a bad feeling about this, _Ulrich responded.

_Me too _Yumi replied. Then they felt it; the subtle chill in the air, the tingle sensation on the back of their spine. They spun around to find two Reapers watching them, scythes in hand. Looking at each other, Yumi and Ulrich smiled widely. They lunged into battle, each bounding off of a tree nearby, using it as a springboard to propel them towards their targets; the scythes. Ulrich slashed with both of his katana as Yumi threw one fan and struck out with the other up close. The fan she threw caused the Reaper on their left to move away to avoid being struck, leaving the other one vulnerable. Two katana and one fan struck the vulnerable Reaper's scythe in unison, shattering it. They moved as if they were parts of the same body; always in unison, creating openings for the other to attack, and striking together to amplify their strength. The second Reaper, now scythe-less, raised one shadowy arm and shot a bolt of black smoke at Yumi, who easily dodged the attack and responded by moving in closer to fight hand-to-hand. The Reaper attempted to strike with its' shadow-smoke again, but before it could strike, Ulrich's two katana emerged from its' head. Dissolving into a puff of oily black smoke, the Reaper vanished.

Meanwhile, William was fighting off the still-armed Reaper, and doing so rather impressively. He used supersmoke to circle around the remaining Reaper as its' comrade fell, and struck with his oversized blade before it could respond. It too dissolved into smoke, and William smiled in victory… right before he fell to the ground in agony as a stream of poison struck him from behind. His Lyoko outfit vanished in a flash of light as he fell unconscious. A second later, two Hornets appeared, taking aim at the unconscious warrior. Just before they could strike, however, three Ulrichs stepped in front of William, deflecting the laser blasts. Ulrich Remembered the upgrade Jeremy mentioned when he called about the activated tower and smirked. Swinging both blades in unison, all three Ulrichs shot green waves of energy , destroying one of the Hornets. Meanwhile, the remaining pest dissolved one of the Ulrich clones with its' poison before Yumi's fans obliterated it. Fusing back into one body, Ulrich deactivated his Lyoko Gem, as did Yumi. "That was too easy, Yumes. Something's up."

Mentally, she replied _I agree, they should've been able to last a bit longer in a fight than they did. We're better as a team, Ulrich, but we aren't THAT good. I feel like someone's pulling our strings here. Let's go to the factory. William will be fine. _

Ulrich, smirking at Yumi's lack of concern for the pretty-boy, followed her as they headed back towards the factory.

**A/N So… I'll be trying to update at least one story every week or so, even though school starts up again next month and I'm learning to play guitar. Or trying to, anyway. Any suggestions or requests, send em to me! And as always, your reviews are VERY much appreciated. **

**Werepyre Zeke, OUT!**

**For now…**


	14. The True Threat

**A/N Hello there. I realized something recently. You people (for the most part) really enjoy my writing! As I am currently writing an actual original book (2 book series, actually) this makes me almost as happy as I'd be if I won the lottery. No joke. Because of that…. I have decided to up my game. I chilled the past few months, letting my writing slip a notch or two. But no more! For my loyal fans, I now present, Chapter 13 of Code Eternity, also known as;**

The Sharpshooter

The first shot missed only because of Aelita's instincts. She pushed Jeremy out of the way just .in time as the bright bolt of red energy streaked towards him. The laser blast left a gaping hole in the ground where it

struck, as if daring anyone to deny its awesome power. Jeremy looked at the smoking crater in astonishment as two more laser blasts struck the ground to either side of him. Jumping to his feet, he spun his staff. "Can

anyone tell where they're coming from?" Jeremy asked as his eyes the canyon known as Catacombs . Suddenly Odd yelled "Up there!" and pointed at the top of the canyon walls, where the outline of a dark figure

could be seen quite clearly. Using his wrist link, Jeremy enhanced the image for himself; essentially zooming in on the creature. It had shoulder length black hair and was wearing all black. Its hands held what appeared to

be a sniper rifle, and it was pointed directly at Jeremy. He jumped just as the man fired, avoiding the shot by mere millimeters. Then his wrist link gave him an alert. "Oh no… the devirtualization program's been

tampered with!"

"WHAT!" Aelita exclaimed in terror. "How?" Jeremy sighed. "It seems that our buddy Zerin used the connection between the supercomputer and my laptop to hack in and plant a virus. It was on a timer, meaning

that…" He trailed off as he stared at the sniper, who had now been joined by two others, though these ones wore blue, with hair to match. "That means this whole thing was about drawing us into an

ambush while we can't devirtualize! If we lose, it's game over for good!" Odd shouted his realization. "And it looks like we got our work cut out for us. Let's go, guys!" At Aelita's words, they sprang into

action, using wings, Overboard, and Overblade to fly towards the snipers. The first one put his sniper away and drew out two pistols. He slowly smiled… and then spread a pair of feathered wings and leapt

off the edge of the ravine. As he dived towards

Jeremy, he raised both of the smaller guns and opened fire. Jeremy barely avoided being incinerated by the black-haired sniper's barrage of lasers as he swerved aside in the nick of time. Raising his staff,

he shouted "Lightning Vortex!" and blasted a stream of swirling blue energy towards the creature. Surprised, the man tried to swerve away, but he clearly wasn't used to flying yet; he applied far too much

force to his initial dive to be able to move away quickly. The shot struck him head on, but miraculously he survived. However, one of his pistols was obliterated, and his wings were badly damaged. The

bloody tatters that hung from his back no

longer even RESEMBLED wings. HE grimaced in pain and shouted out, "Is that all you've got Belpois? I am surprised. I expected more from the leader of my master's foes. Show me your true power, Jeremy.

If you do not… you will never reach the tower in time. By now… it may already be too late for her family." Jeremy's blood froze in his veins. _Aelita has no family left, and Sissi has only her father. _

_That means that he must mean…_

Yumi was concerned. Normally, she would have been thrilled to be finished with the creatures Zerin had sent their way. This time, though, something seemed too easy.

_Let's hurry. I got a bad feeling, Ulrich. I think the others need us. I hate to split up, but I think you should go ahead._

_Maybe I should. But I won't. I am NOT leaving you out here while Zerin's monsters might still be roaming around. We can't be sure they're all gone._

_I'll be fine on my own for a few minutes._ Yumi's thought was delivered with overtones of severe irritation- the kind she normally reserved for starting week long arguments.

_Ok. I'll use supersprint. Meet you at the factory. _With that, Ulrich sped off. Yumi smirked to herself. "That always gets him moving. In any case…" she stared off in the direction of the factory. "I really hope **I'm** wrong

about something **going **wrong."

"You aren't…" a weak and familiar voice from behind her drew Yumi's immediate attention. "Hiroki!" Her little brother had on the tattered remains of a black shirt, and a long gash along his right arm was bleeding

profusely. "Mom… Dad….Yumi, you gotta help them!" She ran over to him. He blinked as he got a good look at her. "What's with the weird outfit?"

"No time. What happened?"

"Mom and Dad and I were attacked by some weird guy in a black robe. They told me to run… Dad drew one of those old samurai swords he collects and tried to fight it off… It hit me as I ran past and then aimed for Dad. I

don't know what happened after that… I was too busy running to look back."

Yumi's blood ran cold. "Come on Hiroki, we need get home."  
"But the black cloak guy could still be there!" He protested as she picked him up.

"I hope he is. Nobody gets away with hurting my family!"

Ulrich arrived just in time to witness the end of the battle…

Jeremy was beginning to grow desperate. The battle had been going for about ten minutes, and there was no damage on either side.

_If this battle goes on any longer, _He thought, _someone might get devirtualized. And with the program bugged… no, there has to be a way to beat these guys without losing anyone. There just has to be!_

Then it hit him. He and the first Sniper were on the ground, while the others fought overhead. If he aimed and timed it JUST right…

"Odd! Switch out!" Jeremy shouted as he dodged a blast from the grounded Sniper's pistol. Odd led his own foe lower to the ground. Though only the first Sniper had wings, the others seemed second

only to Odd in climbing. As it slid down the walls of the ravine, Odd said "GOT IT!"

Odd spun his overboard and soared into the ground-bound enemy while Jeremy used his Lightning Vortex to tear the one on the wall to shreds.

"Damn it Belpois! Remember this: You can't hide from Hawkeye. I'll find you again… and I'll kill you. You won't be so lucky next time." With that, the first of the Snipers vanished as if devirtualized.

The remaining sniper was swiftly destroyed, since it had stopped moving when its leader departed. "Let's find the tower," Aelita said. "Guys, why aren't the scanners working?" Ulrich asked through

Jeremy's headset. "Zerin infected them with a virus Ulrich. I need you to go to the scanner room and switch out the blue wires and the green wires with the spares I have in my bag. It's next to the

Supercomputer."

Ulrich listened to Jeremy's instructions, quickly finding the wires. "This will do what, exactly?" he asked.

"Nothing on its own. I just really wanted someone else to do that. The wires shocked me last time I tried, and the old wires are breaking apart." Ulrich scowled as he finished replacing the wires.

"Now what?"

"Now, run . It's a file near the right hand corner of the screen. That should purge the virus." Jeremy's voice was cut off by a ringing noise as Ulrich's phone rang. As he ran the program,

Ulrich said, "Done! Hold on a moment, Jer, it's Yumi."

Over the headset, everyone on Yang could hear Ulrich's voice. "Yeah, it's me…. Yumi? Calm down, what… No… they couldn't have… I… I'm so sorry… I'll be right there." By the end, Ulrich's voice was

shaking, and Odd could tell he was crying. "Guys… Yumi's parents are dead."

**A/N My next chapter will come sooner than this one did. I am sorry for my several months of Hiatus, but I somehow ended up with a social life for once. Anyway, that pesky distraction will stop me no more! On with the Show, and please review. BTW, check my other stories. though this and stormclouds will be my main ones.**


	15. A Heart Gone Cold

**A/N That's right, it's finally here. I think i'll end this in another ten chapters or so, and I might- if you guys want- do a sequel after that. The sequel in question will probably be an anime crossover. So if you guys have some favorites, feel free to suggest. I already have an anime in mind, but if you include your favorite character(s) from your anime, they might make a guest appearance. Keep in mind I only know about four animes, so if yours wasnt picked, it means I probably dont know it. If I get enough feedback AGAINST the crossover idea, i'll abandon it. Anyway, on to Code: Eternity.**

Chapter 14

A heart gone Cold

"What?!" Aelita cried out in horror. "That can't be!" shouted Jeremie at the same time. Ulrich dropped his phone. "It's true. A Reaper attacked them while we were busy. It was a fucking trap!" He slammed his fist into the wall. "I should've stayed with her. I could've run ahead, I might have got there in time, I-" Odd walked calmly up to Ulrich and punched him in the face. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" "I wasted a month of my life blaming myself for someone's death, Ulrich. I'm not letting my best friend do the same damn thing. There was nothing you could've done!" "You don't know that! If I-" "If you were with her, you'd have been WITH HER. You would've found out at the same time she did, gotten there at the same time she did, and still been too late to help!" Odd took a deep breath and calmed himself down. "Go to Yumi," he said, his voice so soft he was practically whispering. "She's probably a wreck right now. You and Hiroki are all she has left. She'll need both of you if she's gonna get through this." Ulrich nodded, stood up, and ran to the elevator.

Sissi looked astounded as Odd gently took her hands and led her to the elevator- which was, of course, already halfway to the surface level with Ulrich. "It's weird to have to wait for this thing," said Odd after about thirty seconds. "It's normally just... there." Jeremie nodded. "Guys, if Yumi's parents are really dead, we have two big problems." Jeremie's voice was so quiet that they barely heard him. "What would those be?" Sissi asked, just as softly. "Well, first of all, Yumi's a very passionate person. When her friends or family are in danger- or hurt- she gets a bit.. irrational. If Zerin killed her parents, sh might try to go fight him on her own. And more importantly... she's not eighteen yet. That means..."

Odd groaned. "Child protective services, right? Great, now we gotta hide her until she's eighteen." "Or at least until Zerin is dealt with," responded Sissi. "Poor Yumi," said Aelita. "I know I lost my parents too, but... even with my memories returned, I barely knew them. She spent her whole life with her parents... and now..." Aelita buried her face in her hands, sobbing. Jeremie hugged her, trying to offer some comfort, but he knew deep down that she would be crying for a long time.

Ulrich finally arrived at Yumi's house, panting and out of breath. "Yumi? Where are you?" He shouted. "Over... over here," she called, pausing at first to clear her throat. He ran over to her- and that's when he saw their bodies. Mrs Ishiyama was cut clear in half, right at the waist, and her husband had both arms _and_ both legs chopped off. He'd clearly bled to death. Ulrich fell to his knees, only one thought in his mind; _If I'd been here, I could've saved them. I could have stopped this._

_I know,_ he heard yumi's thought in his mind for a moment. _That's all I could think of too. I should've been here. _

He could feel it through their bond...a numb sensation, a wall put up to stop the pain. It was as if, to stop from going mad, Yumi had somehow taken her heart and turned it to ice.

Ulrich crawled over to where she was sitting, Hiroki curled up into a ball next to her (clearly asleep, though his cheeks were tear-stained) and pulled her into his arms. She immediately started sobbing hysterically. Yumi hated herself for it, but she couldn't stop. She knew she was stronger than that, she knew she shouldn't cry, but at that moment, all she could think about was how much it hurt, how alone she felt, and when Ulrich held her, she broke down.

"They're... they're gone!" She cried desperately. Ulrich just nodded, and, using their connection, he did his best to calm her down. _You still have me, Yumi. You'll always have me - no matter what. I don't know how, or how long it will take, but I promise, I'll get you through this. _Yumi's eventually stopped crying, but Ulrich knew it was only because she'd run out of tears. He could feel it in his chest, an ache that was his own and yet not his own. He realized then that nothing he did could possibly fix it. He knew the extent of her pain, shared in it, and knew for certain that, no matter what he did, it would never fade. As he realized this, he felt a sudden icy rage seize him. Carefully shielding his thoughts from Yumi, he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. _I'll make you pay for this, you bastard! First you killed Anna, and now Yumi's parents? You're toying with us, trying to make us suffer... well, then, I'll find you, and I'll tear you apart slowly, bit by bit, until I'm absolutely sure that you've suffered as much as Odd and Yumi have. And then, if you're lucky, I'll kill you..._

**A/N I know it's short, but I've already started on chapter 15. So don't worry, i'm REALLY here to stay. I'll try not to vanish again- as long as my damn computer stops crashing.**

**Anyway, leave a review, keep the faith (the faith in me, specifically) and DON'T STOP! BELIEVING! Sorry, love that song... what was I saying? Oh right. BYE!**


	16. Corruption

Jeremie wasnt too surprised when the superscanner detected an activated tower three days after the

death of Yumi's parents. He _was,_however, surprised to see that the tower had _not_activated by Zerin.

He immediately picked up his phone and called Aelita. "Hey, Aelita, I think something is going on on

Yang. There _seems_to be an activated tower, but get this- it was activated by an outside source."

"What? Are you sure about that? Could it be one of Zerin's tricks?" Aelita asked. "I don't think so. I

thought he might try something like that, so I altered the program for coloring _his _activated towers, so

the turn black instead of red, whether he activates them from inside Yang or not. It wasnt easy, but I

was able to manage it-thanks to my laptop."Grinning to himself, Jeremie thought _betcha wish you _

_never stole it, huh, Zerin?_Turning back towards his computer screen, he said "The new tower is green,

like it is when I activate it, but what's more, there are massive numbers of creatures all converging on

it! I think we may have found an ally!" Aelita nodded thoughtfully. "I'llget the others and meet you at

the factory. See you soon."It didn't take long to find Odd and Sissi- they were in the rec room,

watching TV. Odd was saying something to Sissi."Watch, this is the part where he-" "Odd, you already

spoiled the part where my favorite character died. If you spoil anything else from the final season, I'll

beat you over the head with- with... with William's guitar!" Odd froze. "William knows how to play

guitar?" "No, but he has one anyway." "Why-" "What are you guys watching?" Aelita interrupted their

back and forth arguments. "And why is that man's sword as big as my body?" Odd sighed. "It's anime,

Aelita. ALL the swords are ridiculous. What brings you to the rec room?" Aelita sighed. "We need to go

to Lyoko- specifically, Yang. Something strange is going on." William, who was sitting in the corner

nearby, 'studying' (sleeping lightly) woke up just in time to hear. "Time to kick Zerin's ass?" He

smiled. "I'm so in!" Yumi and Hiroki were staying at the Hermitage while Jeremy tried to think of a

way to keep them away from child services, so they weren't too far when Aelita called. "Aelita?What?

Zerin, again? That bastard- I can't get a moment's rest, can I? Well I gotta stay here with Hiroki, I

cant go. Sorry. What? Of course, I'll send him right over. Mhm. Give him hell from me, guys. Bye."

She turned to Ulrich, who was sitting in the corner, writing in a small notebook. "You're needed on

Lyoko. Zerin is trying to attack some tower or something." Ulrich looked up at her. "You gonna be OK?

I mean-" "i know what you mean, Ulrich, and yes, I'll be fine. I just need to adjust to being... ya

know..." She trailed off, unable to even try to say 'an orphan.' _Yeah. I get it I'll be back soon. _With

that, Ulrich ran off towards the hidden passage to the factory. Once they were all there, Jeremie sent

them to the scanner room. "Odd, Sissi, and William, you'll be virtualized on the northern side of the

tower. Ulrich, you'll go to the southern side with Aelita and I. Let's get going." With that, they were

off. When Jeremie, Aelita, and Ulrich showed up on Lyoko, the first thing they noticed was about

twenty Hornets, eight Saberclaw, and three Reapers- only on THEIR side of the tower. The second

thing they noticed was Ulrich's outfit. "Jeremie, I thought you saidthat only my _swords_ would be

changed with that new upgrade." Ulrich's outfit was no longer yellow- it had instead become blood

red. The black parts of his outfit remained much the same, with the only noticeable difference being

that they now had red lines of light etched into them (**A/N imagine a combination of Xanafied **

**William and the bad guys from Tron)**. "Ulrich, I didn't do that. It just happened!" "Bullshit

Jeremie, shit doesn't 'just happen' on Lyoko! POWER SLASH!" he swung his twin katanas and shot a

duo of energy waves and obliterated a Saberclaw. "Well, that seems to work properly. So why did my

outfit go all... evil?!" He struck down a pair of Hornets with minimal effort. Meanwhile, Jeremie and

Aelita took out another four of them, only to find themselves surrounded by several of the remaining

monsters. Suddenly, Ulrich was everywhere at once. Using Triplicate and Power Slash, he took out a

Reaper, a dozen Hornets, and two Saberclaws. Shouting "Fusion!" he collected his clones. Blinking,

Jeremie looked at Ulrich in astonishment. "How the hell did you do that?!" he blurted out. Ulrich

dropped his sabers and fell to his knees. "I... don't know... but I feel..." suddenly, Ulrich was

devirtualized. Spinning around, Jeremie looked for the culprit, but the remaining enemies (2 reapers,

2 Hornets, and 5 Saberclaws) were all some distance away, and all facing the activated tower, trying

to break the strange green barrier that had formed itself around it. "Aelita, let's do this quickly,

something is wrong with Ulrich! He somehow devirtualized himself!" Aelita nodded and spread her

wings. "Let's get them!" she shouted, forming two energy fields, and they charged into battle.

Meanwhile, Zerin was watching on Jeremie's laptop, smirking to himself. "So, Stern is infected as well?

His bond with Ishiyama must be incredibly strong. It will be amusing to watch as that bond destroys

them. In the meantime...let's take care of our visitor." Turning towards the dark corner of the room in

which he sat, he smiled. "Hawkeye, I'm hooking you up to my supercomputer. Use it's power. Go to

Lyoko, to Yang, and find the man hiding in the Tower. Kill him. Above all else, kill him." Then he

reconsidered. "Actually, there is _one_ order that supersedes that. You must not let him talk to Belpois.

If you do, we may be in trouble. If you cannot kill him, then at least silence him somehow! You are

dismissed."


End file.
